God created you unique and special – not like anyone else on the face of the planet. He put natural talents and abilities in you because He has a purpose for you while you are here on the earth to make a difference. Your loved ones need you; your community needs you. The world needs you! God has assigned specific works for you to accomplish and He has given you, if you are a believer, His Holy Spirit to lead and guide you and reveal those things to you. He also has given you supernatural abilities or spiritual gifts to aid you in your purpose. The Bible says, “A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other” (1 Corinthians 12:7). God has given you at least one spiritual gift so that you can help and serve others. A spiritual gift is a gift that is beyond your own ability – meaning it comes from God and His supernatural power and it works through you as a child of God. There are many different kinds of spiritual gifts but the Holy Spirit is the creator of them all and He gives them to people as He sees fit. The Bible says, “Now there are distinctive varieties and distributions of endowments (gifts, extraordinary powers distinguishing certain Christians, due to the power of divine grace operating in their souls by the Holy Spirit) and they vary, but the [Holy] Spirit remains the same. And there are distinctive varieties of service and ministration, but it is the same Lord [Who is served]” 1 Corinthians 12:4-5 AMP.

There was a time in my life where I was jealous of others and the spiritual gifts God gave them. I really wanted to be like everyone else. One day God spoke to me in my heart and said, “I am pleased with who I made you.” Over time, God began to deal with all the jealousy and insecurity issues within me. He gave me certain spiritual gifts, natural abilities and a specific plan that only I can fulfill…I was valuable to Him and the world needed me to be me! The Bible says, “All these [gifts, achievements, abilities] are inspired and brought to pass by one and the same [Holy] Spirit, Who apportions to each person individually [exactly] as He chooses” 1 Corinthians 12:11 AMP. God chooses how He is going to disperse His gifts. Our responsibility is to trust Him that He knows best for our lives and if He wants us to have specific gifts, He will give them to us at His appointed time. Otherwise, we need to relax and enjoy the gifts He has given us.

One of the hardest lessons for me as a believer was to learn to recognize when God was leading me to do something. My carnal reasoning was always trying to figure out the “why” or “how” before I would obey God. The Bible says, “But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them [of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them] because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated” 1 Corinthians 2:14 AMP. In other words, the natural man cannot understand the things of the Holy Spirit because they are spiritually discerned. In order for believers to operate and use their spiritual gifts fully, they need to learn to be led by the Holy Spirit and His direction, which cannot be understood in their carnal reasoning.

God wants us to eagerly desire spiritual gifts and fan them into flame. “…and earnestly desire and cultivate the spiritual endowments (gifts), especially that you may prophesy (interpret the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching)” 1 Corinthians 14:1 AMP. When we choose not to use the spiritual gifts God has given us, we are not being good stewards of the abilities He has entrusted to us as His children. Do not let fear rob you from God’s extraordinary life He intended to give you nor let your lack of understanding keep you from cultivating your spiritual gifts. Ask God to help you grow in revelation of what yours are. Just as a body has many parts and all are needed to function correctly, the body of Christ has many parts – individuals with spiritual gifts and talents and abilities from God to minister to each other and the world. We all need to function in our role to be a healthy body! Will you let God use you to reach others? Will you cultivate your spiritual gifts? The choice is yours.

Cory can be reached at [email protected].